Who Am I as a Communicator?

This week, I evaluated myself as a communicator and then asked two other people (one a family member and one a colleague) to evaluate me as well. I was a little surprised that their results were very similar but I my personal results showed that I feel I have elevated communication anxiety and am moderately verbally aggressive. However, my mother and coworker both said that I had moderate communication anxiety and although their results also said I was moderately verbally aggressive their result numbers were slightly lower than mine. I thought that this was interesting because I feel that when I communicate my emotions show-I think I appear very nervous when speaking publicly and I feel that people know when I am not happy with them. However, the two people I asked to evaluate me did not appear to think so. I think that maybe I am more critical of myself sometimes!  Both my coworker and family member said that I was a people-oriented listener and this is how I evaluated myself as well. I was glad that these results were consistent because I consider myself to be a good listener and am happy that others view me in the same way.

One of the main insights that I learned about communication this week is that whenever we communicate with someone, whether it be verbally or nonverbally, we are presenting ourselves to them. Just as we form perceptions about them, they are forming them about us. I think that this is important to remember as a professional because we want to be effective communicators and respect the children and families that we work with. Another insight that I found to be surprising was that people-oriented listeners can be too trusting of others sometimes. After reading this and thinking about it I realized that this description fit me and that my listening style may influence my perceptions and judgments of others; our listening style is an important part of our communication style and how we perceive ourselves and communicate with others.